Energize Your Search

JOYCE LAIN KENNEDY CAREERS NOW

April 7, 2003|JOYCE LAIN KENNEDY CAREERS NOW

DEAR JOYCE: I'm in my mid-50s, and a year ago I was downsized from a substantial corporation. I'm faced with rejection at every turn. I tried smaller companies, but friends say my problem is that smaller employers don't want to hire people from big bureaucracies. Is this true?

A: Sort of. Some smaller employers still cling to wariness of bureaucratic expatriates. The rationale is that former employees of big corporations or a government won't work like "owners" and expect too many benefits.

The more likely problem keeping you unemployed is what California executive search consultant Lou Adler calls "a loss of fire in the belly." Improve your chances by making the effort to be perceived as a vital, committed, high-performer who happens to be caught in a down market.

Adler says you need a good explanation of what you've been doing during the past year, other than spending your severance money and casting about for a new job.

Examples that show you're not deadwood: Have you attended education classes, spoken at trade shows, authored professional articles, or volunteered your skills at worthwhile organizations? What books have you read during the year that suggest you're still burning with enthusiasm for the workplace?

DEAR JOYCE: I read that my job search will take one month for every $10,000 in salary.

A: That chestnut might have had a whiff of credibility 30 years ago. And maybe not. Proof is elusive. The real answer is that the timing depends on how hard and how smart you work your search.

Lawrence Stuenkel and Linda Whitehead Mote, partners in the national outplacement firm of Lawrence & Allen Inc. (http://lawrenceandallen.com), say many factors impinge on the length of a hunt for employment:

Launching time counts. The first quarter is usually better than the fourth quarter of the year to mount a search.

The quality of marketing materials impacts the search dramatically. "Those individuals using a rewritten job description as their resume can expect to have a longer campaign. The writer spends too much time telling the reader what the writer was responsible for instead of what the writer accomplished. Quantify, quantify, quantify accomplishments."

"Resumes should be one page." New college graduates with limited employment experience can work with a single page, but job seekers with substantial experience may need two or three pages to relay substance, translated as accomplishments.

"Most people today find jobs through networking." This technique is not as viable as it used to be because everyone has been networked to death. Your network contacts also may be unemployed. Networking is still important as one part of a balanced approach -- contacting employers directly, responding to published jobs, using your state's job service and search firms. Don't rely on one method exclusively.

"The quicker I respond to ads, the better my chances for an interview." Advertisers want to know what their investment buys and are curious about what the next day's mail will bring. The first responses tend to go to the bottom of the stack, Stuenkel and Mote observe.

"When the reviewing process begins, it starts with the responses that have been most recently received -- the ones on top. The earliest responses may never be considered."